I think the record for fastest completion of a puzzle should only count the first time a user attempts it.

highbrow, I agree with the responses posted here, but I want to add that I get your point. In a rigorously fair competition, the record should be a measure of how fast people are able to solve the puzzle "cold," without the benefit of recognizing the quote from previous rounds. After all, if you're in competitive mode, you don't get to use the hints function, since that would be an unfair advantage, and you could argue that familiarity from past rounds is just like a hint -- an unfair advantage.

If this site were a real tournament, with legalistic regulations and players tested for brain-enhancing drugs, and like that, then it would make sense to restrict record-making to only the first-time cold solutions. But it's just a game site, and the competition is just for fun -- it's a way for us to indulge our sense of competition without getting serious about it. Most of us are here to compete with ourselves much more than with the other players.

Another way to look at this setup is that part of the competition is to see how fast you can solve a cryptogram using all your skills, including the ability to recognize a puzzle you've seen before. After all, visual memory and pattern recognition are skills that we cultivate here, as is the ability to puzzle out more subtle factors like how the particular author of the quote is most likely to use words.

I hate to wrap up with a cliche, but it really applies here: It is what it is. There is fun to be had here, and getting faster with quote recognition can be part of the challenge and the fun.

But really, I do get it. I just think this is one of those "Let it be" moments.